Autumn´s 27th article writing day

Today I had this autumn´s 27th article writing day, with some 5 hours devoted to revision of "What can be known about future Umwelten?" I made two key figures (namely "Weak signals in relation to threatened and emerging Umwelten objects" and "Three-dimensional interactive semiotic model of environmental change"; where the latter incorporates the notions "Umwelt transition" and "Umwelt trajectory" within a larger whole) and wrote some 400 words.

Abstract for NASS XI: "Umwelt trajectories revisited: Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21s century"

I have just composed and submitted the abstract below for NASS XI, "Anticipation and change".

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Title: Umwelt trajectories revisited: Anticipating the societal transformation required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21s century

Abstract: Two great challenges face humanity in the 21^stcentury: To solve an escalating environmental crisis, and to further improve and safeguard human living conditions. However, current policy strategies, such as the UN´s Sustainable Development Goals, in part rely on an outdated model of development that has not proven to be environmentally sustainable (O´Neill et al. 2018).

   The main idea of Jakob von Uexküll´s Umwelt theory (2010) is that living beings relate to signs, and that the lives of all humans, animals and unicellular organisms play out in distinctive subjective worlds, or Umwelten. In Tønnessen 2014 (p. 159) an “Umwelt trajectory” is characterized as

the course through evolutionary (or cultural) time taken by the Umwelt of a creature, as defined by its changing relations with the Umwelten of other creatures. The Umwelt trajectory of a creature is thus the historical path of its perceptual and behavioral dispositions considered from an ecological and phenomenological point of view. This notion represents an aggregate, collective (and evolutionary) equivalent to Uexküll’s notion of the Umwelt-tunnel of a single individual creature.

   In this presentation, I will apply the “Umwelt trajectory” perspective in an analysis of the future societal transformation that is required to solve the environmental crisis in the 21s century. Key questions include: How are our relations to non-humans likely to change in the scope of this century? And how shouldthey change, in order to secure environmental sustainability? How can improved living conditions for humans be pursued at the same time as society is made environmentally sustainable? I will deal with these questions by looking into questions concerning societal development and transformation. 

   The liberty to choose how we want to live our lives, and live in accordance with our core values, is fundamentally important for human autonomy and dignity, and thus also for humans´ satisfaction with life. I will argue for adopting a model of development that aims at maximizing humans´ range of options in the long term, especially in terms of life style choices. An implication is that we should avoid policy strategies that in effect lock us into inflexible development paths, such as e.g. those that would make us highly dependent on specific high-tech solutions.

   The model of development I defend will have to be holistic in the sense that it will have to consider the interests of both humans and non-humans, and the full range of environmental issues. This is required, given that the future path of our societal development will be decisive for environmental sustainability and human wellbeing alike.

References

O’Neill, D. W., A. L. Fanning, W.L. Lamb. & J.K. Steinberger, J. K. (2018), ‘A good life for all within planetary boundaries’, Nature Sustainability, 1, 88–95.

Tønnessen, M. (2014), ‘Umwelt trajectories’, Semiotica,issue 198, 159–180.

von Uexküll, J. (2010), A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans with A Theory of Meaning (Posthumanities 12). Transl. by J. D. O. ́Neil. Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press.

Keywords: environmental crisis, social change, cultural change, environmental change, societal transformation, Umwelt theory, biosemiotics

"Umwelt trajectories" published online in mid-February

My article "Umwelt Trajectories", published in Semiotica no. 198 (Special Issue on zoosemiotics, guest-edited by Timo Maran), was ahead of print publication published online on February 15th 2014 (DOI: 10.1515/sem-2013-0106). Abstract and keywords is available to non-subscribers.

"Umwelt trajectories" proof-read, to be published early 2014

This weekend I proof-read my article "Umwelt trajectories", which will be published in Semiotica no. 1/2014 (issue 198), pp. 159 – 180.

"Umwelt trajectories" to be published this autumn

A few days ago I was notified that the special issue of Semiotica on zoosemiotics has been scheduled for publication in the autumn of 2013. It will include my article "Umwelt Trajectories", which is loosely based on my conference presentation "The Umwelt trajectories of wolves, sheep and people" (2011, abstract written 2010). The special issue is guest-edited by Timo Maran.

Brief report from the conference Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations

The international conference Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations took place here in Tartu last week (April 4-8). There were around 60 presentations, and up to 120 people attending each day. Counted by institutional affiliation, the presenters alone represented 5 continents and 19 countries.

As a member of the organizing team, I, as my colleagues, was impressed both by the good attendance and the overall quality of presentations and discussions. The whole event is proof of growing interest in a semiotic approach to animals, especially in the humanities. If there was one group we were missing, it was a larger presence of the biosemiotic community (and natural scientists). Just a handful of biosemioticians were present. Nevertheless the conference attracted more presenters and attendants than any Gathering in Biosemiotics has ever done to this date.

My roles at the conference included
* being a member of the organizing team (lead by Timo Maran)
* presenting "The Umwelt Trajectories of Wolves, Sheep and People" (April 6th, 14.30-15.00)
* chairing the roundtable "Futures of Zoosemiotics" (April 6th, 16.30-18.00)
* giving closing remarks (April 8th)

In the roundtable, Stephen Pain was not present (cf. earlier list of roundtable participants), whereas Aleksei Turovski was added. During the session Colin Allen raised a very pertinent question: Whether zoosemiotics can show to scientific results which could not have been achieved without a zoosemiotic approach. "Semiotics", he said, "has to stop talking about what it is and start talking about what it does."

Here's the topical presentation of the roundtable, as included in the abstract book:

Thomas Sebeok’s role as a founding father of zoosemiotics is unquestioned. On what points should his views be challenged? What is the proper relation of zoosemiotics to biosemiotics, and to ecosemiotics – and how does it compare with cognitive ethology and anthrozoology? Should zoosemiotics be understood as a meta-scientific discipline, as a program for ethology or the animal life sciences, or as a scientific enterprise in its own right? A general aim of semiotics of nature (biosemiotics, zoosemiotics, ecosemiotics etc.) is to help bridging the nature/culture divide and counteract the related compartmentalisation of science and scholarly studies. To what extent should human behavior be included as a study object of zoosemiotics? In particular, how are human-animal relations to be treated? What is the role of the individual subject in biology today – and tomorrow? How well is today’s zoosemiotics fitted to account for the changing global ecological reality?

See also:
Creed (from the introduction to the roundtable)
Semiotics of Animal Representations - update
Zoosemiotics email list - how to register
Zoosemiotic grant meeting

Umwelt trajectories paper accepted and publication thereof invited

My paper "The Umwelt trajectories of wolves, sheep and people" (cf. previous posts) has been formally accepted for presentation at the conference Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations (Tartu, April 2011), and invited for inclusion in the related special issue of Semiotica on zoosemiotics, which is to appear in the autumn of 2012. As for the latter, a full-length text is due by May 20th 2011.

Zoosemiotics abstract: Umwelt trajectories

I have just finished my abstract for the forthcoming zoosemiotics conference.

Morten Tønnessen

The Umwelt trajectories of wolves, sheep and people

Abstract for the conference ZOOSEMIOTICS AND ANIMAL REPRESENTATIONS

This paper contributes to developing Umwelt terminology, and simultaneously offers an analysis of past and current interrelations of wolves, sheep and people, thus providing an application of the notation suggested.

The starting point for the author’s terminology is the concept of an Umwelt transition, which is in effect an Uexküllian notion of environmental change. An Umwelt transition can be defined as a lasting, systematic change within the life cycle of a being, considered from an ontogenetic (individual), phylogenetic (population-, species-) or cultural perspective, from one typical appearance of its Umwelt (i.e., organism-specific phenomenal world) to another. An Umwelt trajectory, the author proposes, can be characterized as the course through evolutionary (and cultural) time taken by the Umwelt of a creature, as defined by its changing relations with the Umwelten of other creatures. Thus defined it represents an evolutionary and mass equivalent of Jakob von Uexküll’s notion of the Umwelt-tunnel of a single individual creature.

As we can see, the Umwelt trajectory of a creature is the historical path of its perceptual and behavioral dispositions considered from an ecological and phenomenological point of view. As such, it is intimately tied to this creature’s ontological niche, i.e. the set of contrapuntal relations that a being takes part in at a given point of natural history. Like the Umwelt tunnel and the ontological niche, the Umwelt trajectory of a creature can be regarded as a specification of the Umwelt concept which situates it in terms of temporal perspective.

Taken as a whole the Umwelten of wolves, sheep and people represent an Umwelt triad of sorts, given that they have been and remain intertwined and codependent. This triple Umwelt is telling of both ecological and cultural developments. In cultural terms, hardly any animals are as loaded with symbolic value as the wolf and the sheep. And the shared importance is no coincidence, as the symbolism of the two animals has developed in explicit opposition to each other. Altogether the wolf-sheep duet, the human-sheep duet and the human-wolf duet – to speak with Uexküll – constitute a highly coordinated triple duet in the great symphony of nature.

The most enlivening aspect of this narrative concerns the semiotic and phenomenological interplay that takes place amid wolves, sheep and people. While the most relevant long-term process of change varies from creature to creature – evolution for wolves, breeding for sheep and cultural development for people (all of which represent broad categories of Umwelt transitions) – there are several common factors at play as well. In this paper, the author will touch upon a) the geographical range and overlap, (b) the sensory range and overlap, and c) the functional range and overlap of wolves, sheep and people. The most crucial arena for semiotic interplay (and thus semiotic causation) is that of functional interrelations, particularly with regard to companionship and enmity. In our current ecological situation, where the human species has emerged as a global species in charge of an ecological empire wherein the sheep, among other species, has been given a privileged position, even the wolf has entered into a dependency relation with our kind. For better or worse, our Umwelt trajectories have (once again) aligned.

Abstract for zoosemiotics conference in progress

I have come up with a title for my abstract submission to the conference Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations (Tartu, April 4-8, 2011): 'The Umwelt trajectories of wolves, sheep and people'. This paper will sum up my work on the (in part interactive) life worlds of these creatures, and introduce some new concepts in the process ('Umwelt trajectory' being one).